Martianov Victor

Global Capitalism in Decline: Political Implications

On the basis of the analysis of the most recent tendencies in the development of modern societies, V.Martianov hypothesizes that capitalism as a historical phenomenon is experiencing a crisis of crises, because all of the methods previously used to resolve contradictions inherent in capitalism (such as geographical expansion of capital, commodification of different spheres of public life and creation of credit financial bubbles) have reached their natural limits. According to his conclusion, the crisis can no longer be resolved by economic means, because such a solution can only aggravate the structural contradictions of the world markets by inflating yet another financial collapse and/or the spatial transfer of the epicenter of the crisis along the center-peripheral axis of the world economy. The global decline of capitalism requires a political solu- tion, which implies recognition and legitimation of the new political ontology (the erosion of basic economic classes, the rise of the prekariat and various minorities), transformation of the principles of social stratification and alteration of conditions for access of different social groups towards public resources.

Obviously, a new configuration of social groups will have to reinvent the foundations for social harmony and distribution of public resources under the conditions of a society that lacks economic growth, mass labor and is characterized by the leading role of state. At the same time, under the pressure of the monetary social order the political format of nation-states provides fewer and fewer opportunities for an increasingly vulnerable majority. According to the author’s evaluation, as the strategies of the expansion of free markets and complete commodification of social relations are depleted, rentier society, which is related to state, basic income and acknowledgement of the value of each individual outside of the economic realm, will become a more attractive alternative to the capitalist order in terms of both values and institutions.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-91-4-140-161

Pages: 140-161

Political Ontology of Modernity: in Search of Mercurial Majority

The political order of Modernity has undergone a number of significant transformations due to the dynamics of the structure of the modern society, which changes its perception of a majority as an ontological basis of this political project. Majority has never been statistical. Rather, it has always been constructed on purpose by the leading political figures within the collective imagination of a society, being the subject of a dynamic consensus. The article discusses several historical constellations of a majority within the changing structure of the society of the Modernity, analyzes their strengthening and weakening factors. According to V.Martianov’s conclusion, the global political order is gradually losing the need to rely upon once-sacred concept of the will of the majority in order to be legitimate, which creates conditions for the establishment of non-democratic ways of legitimation.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2017-84-1-107-126